NBC was deluged by complaints from fans Sunday night after Gray's interview with Rose at Turner Field in Atlanta. It centered on Rose's lifetime ban from the sport for gambling, and came minutes after he returned to a major league field for the first time in 10 years as a member of baseball's All-Century team.

During NBC's pregame show Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, Gray spoke of the incident.

''After viewing the videotape, I can understand the reaction of many baseball fans,'' Gray said. ''I thought that it was important to ask Pete Rose if this was the right moment for him to make an apology.

''If in doing so, the interview went on too long and took out some of the joy of the occasion, then I want to say to baseball fans everywhere that I'm very sorry about this.''

The Yankees seemed not to be in a forgiving mood, however. Chad Curtis, who hit the game-winning home run in the 10th, refused to answer Gray's questions after the game.

''Because of what happened with Pete, we decided not to say anything,'' Curtis told Gray on live television, adding a greeting for his grandmother before walking away.

Gray shouted after Curtis, ''Don't you want to talk about your home run?'' but Curtis did not turn around.

In its postgame report on CNBC, reporter Craig Sager, who had been covering the Braves' dugout, went over to the Yankees' side of the field to ask the questions.

Fans seem willing to forgive Rose, speaking out in polls in favor of his reinstatement to baseball. He received the longest ovation of any baseball hero introduced Sunday at Atlanta's Turner Field.

Rose told Gray he was ''surprised you're bombarding me like this on such a festive occasion.''

In an interview Monday, Gray said his questions shouldn't have surprised Rose since other reporters asked the same things at a news conference shortly before.

Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Sports, backed Gray by calling him ''the best TV sports reporter of his generation.'' However, Ebersol said he thought the interview ''probably went too long.''

Switchboards at NBC affiliates across the country were bombarded by phone calls from people angry at Gray -- two hours nonstop at WLWT in Cincinnati, where Rose collected most of his record 4,256 hits for the hometown Reds.

Yankees manager Joe Torre said the interview was uncalled-for. ''For some reason, we've lost sight of the word 'respect.' We deal too much in shock value.''